The LSU Tigers and head coach Kim Mulkey continued to make history Saturday night with a 112-35 victory over Washington State in the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament’s Reef Division. It was the eighth consecutive game in which the Tigers have scored 100 or more points. On Friday, they broke an NCAA record that stood for 43 years with their seventh straight 100-point game.
In 1982, Louisiana Tech recorded six straight 100-point games before going on to win the inaugural NCAA women’s basketball championship. That Bulldogs team was led by none other than Mulkey, who was an All-American point guard and has coached the Tigers to a 8-0 start this season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe winner of six NCAA national championships as a player and coach, Mulkey is used to setting standards. She won titles as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech in 1988, as the head coach at Baylor in 2005, 2012 and 2019, and with LSU in 2023.
However, she wasn’t aware of this particular record until she was informed after Friday’s 113-53 win over Marist.
“I didn’t realize it till after someone said something about it to me just now,” Mulkey said. “We don’t talk about that; I’ve never discussed that with any of these kids. It’s not something that’s high on our priority list.”
With her team currently ranked fifth in the country, Mulkey is looking to lead LSU women’s hoops to its second-ever national title this season. Despite featuring eight additions, the Tigers have jelled quickly. They are averaging 112 points per game, with seven players averaging double figures.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn Saturday’s victory, Mulkey brought in all 11 available players as she had on Friday; every one of them scored at least four points. The 77-point margin of victory over the Cougars was the fourth-largest in program history. LSU has been aided by the return of All-American guard Flau’jae Johnson, who is averaging 17.0 points per game on 53.8 percent shooting. Johnson won a national title with Mulkey in 2023.
LSU’s smallest margin of victory so far this season is 31 points. Contributing to that is a lighter nonconference slate than the team has played in previous years. With a dramatically different roster, Mulkey said she took a different approach to scheduling this season. Her squad has yet to play a power-conference team.
“If I had known that with the eight new players that we were going to score the ball the way we do, I might have scheduled differently,” Mulkey said. “But you’re scared to death with eight new players, and only got two returning players who got significant minutes.”
The Tigers face a tougher test Thursday, when they travel to Durham, N.C., to face Duke, their first power conference opponent of the season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis article originally appeared in The Athletic.
LSU Lady Tigers, Women's College Basketball
2025 The Athletic Media Company
AdvertisementAdvertisement